


Harry Potter and the reappearance of Harry's stalking tendencies

by mfingenius



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Angst, Don't copy to another site, Fluff, Hogwarts Eighth Year, M/M, Stalking
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-17
Updated: 2018-12-17
Packaged: 2019-09-20 18:00:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 605
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17027421
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mfingenius/pseuds/mfingenius
Summary: Back for eighth year, everyone wants to go back to normal; the war took too much out of all of them.Malfoy's not eating, and he's barely talking. He knows he deserves it.Harry's stalking him again, and, no, Hermione, it's not because I'm in love with him, what are you saying?It's just because he's worried about the git.After it goes on for too long, he confronts him about it.





	Harry Potter and the reappearance of Harry's stalking tendencies

“Harry,” Hermione seethes. “I swear to Merlin, if you fail  _one_  more exam because you were too busy following Malfoy around to study, I will hex your bollocks off!”

Ron grimaces in sympathy, but he nods. “Really mate, the ferret isn’t up to anything. I think he’s the most eager of us to put the war behind us. He’s even apologized to  _me.”_

“It’s not that.” Harry says.

If he’s quite honest, the only reason he keeps following Malfoy around is because he’s  _worried_  about him. He barely eats, he doesn’t talk, and he’s  _always_  alone, even if Parkinson and Zabini keep trying to talk to him.

Honestly, it’s almost as bad as Sixth year, and Harry doesn’t want a repeat of that, ever.

“Then what is it?” Hermione demands. “Are you in love with him? Do you want to shag him? Whatever it is, I don’t care. Either talk to him and get it out of your system or pay some bloody attention to our classes, because if you fail agian I  _will_  make good on my threat.”

Harry grimaces. “Yeah, okay. Yeah. I’ll talk to him.”

He doesn’t. Two weeks pass - and he does study more, because friend or not, he doesn’t doubt Hermione  _will_  make good on her threat - and Harry keeps checking the Marauders map and following Malfoy around underneath the invisibility cape.

It doesn’t really do any good. Malfoy still doesn’t eat, and even when other people talk to him, he rarely says more than two words.

Another two weeks pass before Harry just can’t take it anymore.

“Eat.” He snaps, shoving a plate full of food underneath Malfoy’s nose. 

He’s sitting in front of the Black Lake reading, and he looks up, surprised.

“What?” He asks.

“Eat.” Harry repeats. He sits down beside him. “You weren’t at Lunch today. Or any other day, on every other meal.”

“I’m not-” Malfoy begins, but Harry glares at him with his best ‘I-killed-the-Dark-Lord-fear-me’ look.

“Eat.” He says again. “And then you’re going to go talk to Parkinson and Zabini because Merlin knows they’ve been trying to talk to you and you keep blowing them off.”

The corners of Malfoy’s lips quirk lightly. “I assure you, Potter, I’ve never blown Blaise. Or Pansy, for that matter.”

Harry glares until Malfoy sighs.

“Why do you care if I eat?” He asks. “I’m fine.”

“You’re not.” Harry says. “And Merlin help me, if I have to feed you myself I will.”

That seems to convince Malfoy, because he takes a bite of the bagel Harry’d put on the plate.

“You still haven’t answered why you care.” Malfoy says after he swallows.

Harry waits until he takes another bite to answer.

“The war is over.” he says. “We all deserve some peace.”

“I think you of all people, Potter, know why  _I_ don’t.” Malfoy says.

Harry shakes his head. “We were children. All of us. I don’t want to - I can’t let it keep haunting us. Any of us. We don’t deserve it.”

“You don’t.” Malfoy agrees. “Some of us… we made our choices. We had our part in it, and we deserve to live with the knowledge, even if we’re different people now.”

Harry purses his lips.

“Hi.” He says. “I’m Harry Potter.”

Malfoy looks at him confused.

“What are you doing?” He asks.

“Like you said, we’re different people.” Harry says. “So hello. I don’t believe we’ve met before. I’m Harry Potter.”

The shadow of a smile begins to grace Malfoy’s lips.

“Hi.” He says. “I’m Draco Malfoy.”

Harry grins. “Would you like to be my friend?”

Malfoy’s smile widens. “Yes. Yes, I would.”


End file.
